Braised Beef with Potatoes
Beef braised until tender with potatoes that soak up the savoury sauce — a classic family stew.
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Tomato Beef and Potato Stew
Beef brisket slow-braised with tomato, potato and carrot until the sauce turns thick and spoon-coating. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 番茄土豆炖牛肉, report 187.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 番茄土豆炖牛肉_187.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 2 hours 10 minutesTotal: 2 hours 25 minutesServings: 2Difficulty: EasyRegion: Home-styleFlavour: Savoury tomato-sweet
Why this works
The report's whole idea is patience: tomato is not a background flavour here but the sauce itself, fried hard until it gives up its juice and colour, then given two quiet hours to break down around the beef. Blanching the brisket first removes the scum that would cloud that sauce, while a short, hot fry of the beef and tomato builds the savoury base before any water goes in. Potato and carrot are not fillers in this logic; they thicken the braise as they soften, so the finished sauce coats a spoon without any starch thickener. The control point is a barely simmering pot: a hard boil tightens brisket and makes it tough, while too short a braise leaves it chewy. Reducing at the end concentrates the salt, so taste only after the final five minutes. Served in a warmed bowl over rice, it is the kind of stew that tastes better the next day, once the tomato and beef have fully settled together.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef brisket, cut into 3 cm cubes | 7 oz | 200 g | Beef chuck works too (adaptation). |
| Tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks | 5.3 oz | 150 g | Keep the juice; score a cross on top and scald 10 seconds to peel. |
| Potato, cut into rolling chunks | 3.5 oz | 100 g | Soak in cold water to stop browning. |
| Carrot, cut into rolling chunks | 2.8 oz | 80 g | Soak in cold water with the potato. |
| Star anise | 2 pieces | 2 g | — |
| Soy sauce | 1 tbsp | 15 ml | — |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | 3 g | — |
| Cooking wine and ginger slices, for blanching | To taste | To taste | Mentioned in the report steps but with no quantities given; use about 1 tbsp wine and 2 slices ginger (adaptation). |
| Neutral cooking oil | 4 tsp | 20 ml | — |
| Scallion or coriander, for garnish (optional) | 0.2 oz | 5 g | Scald in boiling water 10 seconds, as the report requires, before using raw herbs as garnish. |
Equipment
- Heavy pot or Dutch oven with a lid — no special equipment required
- Slotted spoon
- Warmed serving bowl
Steps
- Blanch the beef. Cut the brisket into 3 cm cubes. Put in cold water with cooking wine and ginger slices, bring to a boil, skim the scum, boil 3 minutes, then drain.
- Prepare the vegetables. Score a cross on each tomato, scald in hot water 10 seconds, peel and cut into chunks, keeping the juice. Peel the potato and carrot, cut into rolling chunks and soak in cold water.
- Fry the beef and tomato. Heat 20 ml oil, fry the star anise until fragrant, then add the beef and fry over medium heat about 3 minutes until lightly browned. Add the tomato and fry over high heat about 2 minutes until it gives up its juice and turns red.
- Season and braise. Add the soy sauce and salt and toss. Add the potato and carrot, pour in boiling water to cover, bring to a boil, then turn to low heat and simmer gently for 2 hours, keeping it at a bare simmer.
- Reduce and serve. Turn to medium heat and reduce 5 minutes until the sauce is thick and coats a spoon. Serve in a warmed bowl, garnished with scalded scallion or coriander if using. Beef must reach at least 75 °C / 167 °F throughout (report safety point).
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Technique: a bare simmer for two hours
Brisket needs time, not heat: a rolling boil squeezes moisture out and toughens it, while a gentle simmer lets collagen turn to gelatine and the tomato break down into sauce. Do not shorten the braise to save time, and do not over-reduce at the end — the salt concentrates as the sauce thickens, so the final seasoning should be judged only after reducing.
Variations
- Pressure cooker: braise at pressure about 35 minutes instead of 2 hours, then reduce uncovered; the beef should be tender but still in cubes (adaptation).
- No carrot: use 180 g potato alone; the sauce will be slightly less sweet (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
Why blanch the beef first?
To remove blood and scum so the tomato sauce stays clean-tasting and red rather than grey and muddy.
My beef is still tough after 2 hours. Why?
The pot was probably boiling too hard, or the cubes were cut larger than 3 cm. Keep the simmer barely moving and check tenderness before reducing.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes. Cool and refrigerate; the sauce thickens and the flavour deepens. Reheat gently until steaming hot throughout.
Storage and freezing
Keeps 3 days refrigerated or up to 1 month frozen; reheat gently until steaming hot throughout and do not reheat more than once. Freeze without the garnish.
Tomato Beef and Potato Stew — Recipe Card
Brisket slow-braised with tomato, potato and carrot into a thick, spoon-coating sauce.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 2 hours 10 minutesTotal: 2 hours 25 minutesServings: 2
Ingredients: 200 g beef brisket; 150 g tomatoes; 100 g potato; 80 g carrot; 2 star anise; 15 ml soy sauce; 3 g salt; 20 ml oil; cooking wine and ginger for blanching (quantities not given in report); 5 g scallion or coriander (optional).
Steps: 1) Blanch beef 3 minutes. 2) Fry beef with star anise, add tomato 2 minutes. 3) Add vegetables and water, simmer 2 hours. 4) Reduce 5 minutes and serve.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 番茄土豆炖牛肉 (data/reports/187.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The report's cost table is arithmetically wrong (one line item alone exceeds the ingredient sum), so no cost figures are reproduced. The blanching wine and ginger quantities, not given in the report, are adaptations and are labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (番茄土豆炖牛肉_187.jpeg).